During operation of the internal combustion engine, oil, essential to operation of the engine, is taken from the oil pan, where stored, and circulated throughout the engine to lubricate the internal moving parts, including the crank shaft, cam shaft and pistons, to thereby minimize friction and wear of the engine's moving parts. For optimal engine operation and life, and for effective lubrication, the oil must be clean and maintain its lubricating qualities. To keep the oil free of the larger metal particles and dirt that inevitably are created and accumulate in the oil with continued engine use, a replaceable oil filter is carried on each engine. Additionally, to eliminate the more minute particles and acid that builds up in the oil, which the filter cannot remove, the engine oil pan is periodically drained and replenished with new oil; and a new oil filter is typically installed.
Even with such periodic maintenance not all the foreign particles are removed. Over time an oily "sludge" is formed within parts of the engine from such foreign particles, particularly in the oil drain pan. That sludge degrades engine performance. It also can release particles after the oil has been replaced and the presence of those particles in the oil leads to premature engine wear.
To reach and remove that sludge without disassembling the engine, engine flushing apparatus is known which treats the engine with a cleaning solution, circulating the cleaning fluid through the engine and oil drain pan from which the engine oil has been drained. In such flushing apparatus a conduit, typically a hose, capable of withstanding fluids under pressure, is connected to the oil filter port leading to the engine's lubrication system. Another conduit is connected to the drain plug port at the engine's oil pan. The flushing fluid is circulated from the apparatus through one conduit, into the engine, whereby the fluid ideally dissolves the sludge and collects any foreign particles in suspension. The flushing fluid exits the engine with the dissolved and suspended waste via the oil pan drain port and the second conduit, through which the now "dirty" flushing fluid is returned to the flushing apparatus for further processing or disposal.
Such conventional flushing apparatus continues circulating the cleaning fluid for a prescribed treatment period, which is a standard duration, irrespective of the make and model of the automobile. Since the size and type of oil filter port and oil pan drain port differs from automobile manufacturer to manufacturer and even amongst different models or model year of a single auto manufacturer, the prior flushing apparatus includes a necessary set of associated adapters to permit connection of the conduits to the respective oil filter and drain plug ports of the vast majority of automobile engines.
As example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,844 granted Dec. 8, 1992 to Waelput, describes a set of adapters for connection to the oil filter port and also describes a universal type of adapter, characterized by L-shaped metal fingers, for connection to the oil drain port. In such universal adapter, the L-shaped fingers form a part of a compression type fitting. They are inserted through the threaded drain hole and the bottom stems of the L are pressed against the inside surface of the oil drain pan by a pulling force applied to the stem. With a universal adapter, the set of different size threaded drain pan port adapters inevitably required for a flushing apparatus is avoided. However, experience showed that such L-shaped metal member, with time and use, could weaken and break, requiring replacement of the adapter, and, in the worst possible scenario, permit leakage of the cleaning fluid. In addition, for oil drain pan ports at the very extreme sizes, the very largest and very smallest ports, such universal adapter in applicant's view does not mate correctly.
A threaded coupling for that line is more rugged and, hence, more reliable than the foregoing, but unlike the drain pan adapter described in the Waelput patent, one size of threaded adapter coupling cannot universally fit the oil drain ports of the various models of automobile engines. Hence, different threaded couplings must be provided for the adapters in a set. The oil pan drain adapter for the present invention thus is a selected one of a set.
The oil filter mounting assembly contains two oil conduits or passages, one formed through the hollow of the threaded mounting post, which leads from the oil filter to the crankshaft and other moving parts within the engine block and at least one additional passage alongside, which leads to the engine oil pump. The cleaning solution being pumped by the flushing equipment through the oil filter is divided in the adapter and flows through both passages, cleaning the rocker arm assembly and the like accessible to the fluid through the first port passage, and cleaning the oil pump accessible through the second port passage.
By placing a size reducing threaded member on the adapter so that it may fit on the oil filter port as described in the Waelput patent, the central passage is narrowed and the adapter now fits the mounting post associated with the oil filter port of another automobile. With that narrower central passage, less of the cleaning fluid goes to the rocker arm assembly, where it is needed more, and proportionately more goes to the oil pump, where it is less needed. Consequently, if both automobiles are being cleaned with the cleaning fluid for the same period of time, the rocker arm assembly of the first automobile in the preceding example, receives more cleaning fluid flow, than the corresponding elements of the latter automobile. Typically the flushing equipment controls, among other things, the duration of flushing fluid flow, fifteen minutes, as example, and all automobile engines, no matter what make or model, receives the same fifteen minute duration of treatment. With that operation of the flushing equipment, one readily appreciates that the cleaning treatment of the first automobile is more effective than the second. Essentially the cleaning fluid being pumped through the oil filter, as between different makes and/or models of automobiles, having different diameter oil filter mounting posts that use different size threaded adapters in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,844 is essentially uncontrolled.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a lubrication adapter that regulates the flow of cleaning fluid distributed in separate passages within the engine block, as between that flowing to the various engine components and that flowing to the engine oil pump, to a predefined ratio that provides greater efficiency in flushing operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cleaning solution adapter set in which the distribution of the flushing fluid within the engine remains essentially the same irrespective of the adapter selected from within the set so that the flushing fluid going to the various engine components and that going to the engine oil pump is maintained at a selected ratio irrespective of the make and model of engine receiving flushing treatment.
In fitting adapters to the engine, one finds that the many components and accessories packed in the engine compartment of modern automobiles provide formidable obstructions to installation of the adapter, a known problem. Often the hose connecting the adapter and flushing apparatus is relatively stiff and cannot be easily routed around obstacles, such as the oil drain pan port. Accordingly, another object of the invention is to provide an adapter coupling that has greater flexibility and can be more easily moved around obstacles.